LIVERPOOL and Barcelona have announced that they have agreed a transfer fee to see Argentinian midfielder Javier Mascherano leave Anfield after an unhappy three-year stint.

The Argentinian national captain had point-blank refused to play for Liverpool in Monday night’s 3-0 loss to Manchester City, essentially forcing manager Roy Hodgson to entertain bids that the club had previously dismissed as being too low.

Reports have put the price of the four-year deal at between £22m and £25m (€26.7m and €30.3m).

A statement from Liverpool said the clubs had “agreed terms” for the transfer and that “the Spanish club had now been given permission to speak to the Argentina midfielder.”

Barcelona, meanwhile, said the agreement “was reached after considerable effort from the club over the last few hours and the willingness and desire of the player to make the move.”

FC Barcelona will give more details of the operation once the player has gone through his medical and the transfer is definitive. Javier Mascherano is expected to arrive in Barcelona this weekend.

Inter Milan had also been linked to the midfielder, with boss Rafael Benitez keen to be reunited with the midfielder he signed in 2007. The value of Inter’s bid had not found favour with Hodgson, however.

“I saw a fax the other day but I think it was sent tongue-in-cheek, to be honest,” he told Sky Sports at the time. “The offer was so unbelievably far from a valuation it seemed to me the sporting director was putting the fax in to maybe satisfy people at the club.

“We didn’t even bother to answer it – that is how ridiculously far from a serious offer it was.”